Emerson releases control system for data centres

Industrial automation company Emerson has ventured into data centre automation, releasing a version of its DeltaV industrial automation control system specifically tailored for data centre management.

As artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates data centre demand and compresses project timelines, infrastructure complexity is at an all-time high according to the company. Its DeltaV Automation Platform for Data Centers is designed to meet this challenge with a unified automation portfolio designed for AI-scale data centres for the monitoring and control of data centre critical infrastructure, bringing together the thermal, mechanical and electrical subsystems under a scalable, flexible architecture.

To bring gigawatt-scale facilities online faster while maximising operational reliability, the DeltaV Automation Platform for Data Centers replaces point solutions and complex mappings with an integrated automation architecture from the inception of project design. Rather than separate, manual coordination of subsystems, the DeltaV platform unifies them under a single unified control solution, reducing engineering effort, simplifying integration and creating consistency across commissioning, operations and maintenance.

How does an industrial automation perspective benefit a data centre?

“Data centre performance is no longer defined by individual components alone, but by how effectively critical systems work together,” said Nathan Pettus, president of Emerson’s process systems and solutions business. “The DeltaV Automation Platform for Data Centers gives operators the unified visibility and coordinated control they need to commission projects predictably, operate reliably at scale and meet aggressive timelines. It’s the foundation that turns speed into sustainable competitive advantage.”

The DeltaV Automation Platform for Data Centers is designed for:

• real-time monitoring and management of highly variable loads and cooling optimisation
• industrial-grade integrated control and operational visibility to detect abnormal conditions earlier, respond faster and maintain consistent, reliable operations 24/7
• repeatable, standardised designs and decades of large-project expertise to help engineering teams reduce execution risk
• repeatable operating models and continuous intelligence that help data centres scale across their expansions and optimise lifecycle operations across multiple facilities and geographies.
   

The DeltaV Automation Platform for Data Centers provides a full-range automation portfolio including its DeltaV distributed control system (DCS) and DeltaV programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that connect to the DCS for system-wide process control. Both the DeltaV DCS and DeltaV PLCs incorporate context-specific AI solutions to accelerate engineering workflows, provide advanced process control and enable data centres to integrate AI optimisation models.

“AI data centres are pushing at the very limits of scale, speed and complexity, exposing the limitations of piecemeal automation architectures,” Pettus said. “The DeltaV Automation Platform for Data Centers is built on intelligent, unified automation architectures instead of isolated systems to provide the flexibility not only to quickly reach first token, but also help data centres stay competitive, secure and relevant across the lifecycle of operation.”

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